The present invention relates generally to the armature assembly of a dynamoelectric machine and, more specifically, to the spiral pancake armature winding of a superconducting generator.
Superconducting generators generally utilize a super-cooled rotor, which comprises superconducting field windings, and a stator which incorporates an air gap armature winding. Although air gap armature windings have been proposed for stators of synchronous machines with non-superconducting field windings made of conventional copper, no applications of this type are presently known. Air gap windings for superconducting generators, however, have been developed and are known to those skilled in the art.
The particular type of air gap armature winding for which the present invention is particularly applicable is a spiral pancake winding assembly. The basic configuration of spiral pancake armature windings is described in Austrian Patent No. OE329670 issued to Aichholzer on May 25, 1976. Significant detailed improvements on the spiral pancake winding assembly are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,433 issued to Flick on Apr. 24, 1979 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,672 issued to Flick on Aug. 14, 1979. A support structure for dynamoelectric machines having stators which utilize spiral pancake windings is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,558 issued to Flick et al. on Sept. 29, 1981. Pancake armature coils are also discussed in Section 3 of an article entitled "New Solutions for the Design of Large Turbo Generators up to 2 GVA, 60 KV" by Aichholzer, Eingelangt, 9-25-74.
Specific insulation and support mechanisms for use in conjunction with spiral pancake stator coils are disclosed in Patent Application Ser. No. 226,335 filed by Nathenson on Jan. 19, 1981 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. An alternative support and insulation system for use with spiral pancake coils is discussed in U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 324,295 filed by Flick et al. on Nov. 23, 1981 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.